Additional Observations From Underwear Football Practice
June 4th, 2025
Joe chuckled when hearing Todd Bowles say the following.
Bowles, after practice yesterday, gave rookie corner Benjamin Morrison a shout out for moving well considering he’s returning from hip surgery.
Either Bowles missed a segment of practice with other responsibilities or Bowles didn’t hear one of his defensive assistants hollering.
Bucs defensive backs were in a tackling drill (even though tackling is verboten in underwear football). The drill has a fellow defensive back catch a pass along a sideline.
The defender, also sets up along the sideline, then runs to the ballcarrier, stopping or jumping out of the way just before they touch each other. Sort of the way women on Clearwater Beach approach Joe before they get close enough to smell him.
Now Joe didn’t catch who the defensive backs coach was but on one of these drills, Morrison got an earful. Apparently the coach did not like Morrison’s tackling approach or technique.
Morrison got scolded.
“Don’t stop moving your feet!” Joe heard the coach bellow.
So when Joe heard later Bowles compliment Morrison on movement, Joe wondered if Bowles saw/heard this? Right about the same time, Joe noticed Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht and Bowles in a conversation.
Seemed friendly. Licht, as you can imagine, was a little demonstrative. Bowles, as you can imagine, was stoic and listening intently.
Look, Bowles cannot see everything in real-time. That’s why he has assistants and film. And with players spread out over three fields at times, no way Bowles can monitor every play move until he watches film of practice.
Joe just thought it was funny hearing Bowles compliment Morrison for moving, yet Morrison got chewed out by an assistant, maybe an hour earlier, for not moving enough.
It happens.
Kyle Trask Still Up and Down
Kyle Trask enters his fifth season with the Bucs and there are two things that he is pretty consistent about: Too many of his deep passes are lollipops and he has practices where he is really up and down. Some good plays and some real headscratchers.
Yesterday was just such a day.
Trask had too many lollipop passes deep for Joe’s liking. But one was both pretty and pretty good. On a play-action, he faked a handoff and launched a rainbow deep for Tez Johnson down the left sideline as Trask moved out of the pocket to the right.
Johnson hauled the ball in and housed it, which ignited a lot of hoots and hollers from players along the sidelines. Fun play if you’re not on defense.
Later, Trask had a real brainfart. In seven-on-seven drills, Trask dropped back. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more.
Good grief man, unload the ball! If this were a game or hitting were allowed, Trask would have been splashed.
Several thoughts crossed Joe’s mind. Im flag football (which is what seven-on-seven really is) someone cannot get open? Maybe the Bucs secondary has improved?
Or, what was going on with the receivers that they weren’t getting open? Or was Trask too locked in on one receiver and as a result, missing others? No matter how you slice it, the play was ugly.
Zyon McCollum. pic.twitter.com/LFDJ42DiFA
— JoeBucsFan (@JoeBucsFan) June 3, 2025
June 4th, 2025 at 5:17 am
I believe Coach Bowles was referring to Morrison’s hip movement and not foot movement in the tackling drill.
June 4th, 2025 at 5:25 am
The post Super Bowl draft was awful.
I was so mad when we drafted a 4th string QB in the 2nd round.
We had Brady, Gabbert, and Griffin!
Why did we use an extremely valuable 2nd round pick on a 4th string QB?
And Darden?
He looked like a high school player.
Hainsey? A RT in the 3rd round with skinny legs to play center?
JTS? A GI Joe body without any toughness or power. He was 20, and skipped a whole year of college football.
Yea. JTS looks great. But didn’t do squat.
KJ Britt was a decent pick. For special teams.
But a LB that runs a 4.7? In the 5th? SMH.
CJ Wilcox in the 6th. Got cut.
Grant Stuard in the 7th? Not bad. He is still in the NFL. But we traded him away.
I give this draft an F. An F- if it existed.
But look at what NFL.com said!
They gave us an A- for this draft!
Shows that post draft grades mean nothing!
You can only judge a draft after 4 years!
I don’t trust Trask as our backup.
We need to upgrade immediately.
June 4th, 2025 at 5:35 am
Licht mustve been still hungover from the boat parade
June 4th, 2025 at 7:11 am
… or, maybe the new additions at wide receiver don’t matter so much without Evans and Godwin on the field.
June 4th, 2025 at 8:02 am
Trask is only serving as the #2 qb cause he knows the playbook & we’ve been extremely lucky Baker is so tough. How’s the kid fromTulane developing? If he’s nit getting it who is the backup Qb with enough talent to play ( or is the next Buc Qb even on the roster??!!
June 4th, 2025 at 8:12 am
Agree, Teacherman, that draft was pretty weak. I think the three since that have been pretty solid and kind of the opposite, though.
June 4th, 2025 at 8:21 am
More proof that Bowles needs to go.
McCarthy is still out there and would be a huge upgrade.
LFG!!!
June 4th, 2025 at 8:32 am
Other QB’s that are known for deep passes with high arcs are Josh Allen, Patrick Maholmes, Matthew Stafford, AAron Rodgers, and Lamar Jackson.
Maybe it’s just a Back Up QB thing.
Perhaps Joe just likes the look of deep passes that are tight line drive spirals and over shoot the receiver more times than not. Could just be something Joe prefers to look at.
My question is do these woman at the Beach get close enough that Joe’s gets a good look at what they actually look like before they get a Whiff and dart?
My preference is if they are walking down the beach and the tides move out there just might be too much arc for me.
June 4th, 2025 at 9:08 am
Hainsey was a 3rd round pick that has started close to 20 games in his career and signed a nice deal with Jacksonville for his second contract. He played well last season when he was forced to start. That’s exactly what you’d like out of your 3rd round pick, starter quality. It took a little for him to develop. He started the first Saints game last season, must not have been too bad, we crushed them on the ground on offense.
JTS… not great, not necessarily a bust either. Being a young pass rusher is a great thing. Being an old college pass rusher is not… Gaines Adams, Peria Jerry, many others … were much older and far more successful in college than most… and sucked in the NFL. The only older pass rush prospect that ever amounted to much was Bruce Irvin. Considering the circumstances, COVID and the limitations placed on everybody due to COVID, the 2021 draft was more of a crap shoot than ever. JTS had/has a ton of potential… he didn’t pan out but he started lots of games and made some plays for us. He was decent starter not what you want out of a first round pick but more expected from a 2nd rounder…. BTW, he was the 32nd overall pick, so pretty much a high second round pick.
Darden… Licht missed. Not being able to get an accurate time on him hurt. He was way too small to not be all that fast…. I get Darden vibes with Tez Johnson, but that’s okay for a 7th round pick.
JTS
Hainsey
Britt
all started many games in the NFL
Grant Stuard is still around. It was far from a great draft but certainly worthy of a C… not an F…. and F means no players contributed in any way. In the early to mid 80’s, the Jets had a draft where not a single player made the team. That’s an F.
June 4th, 2025 at 9:38 am
‘Tis the season when Bowles is encouraging his rookies. His comments to the press are to give the rookies a little confidence. But don’t worry, Bowles has his position coaches tearing into the rookies, and he might be tearing into them 1 on 1 away from the press.
June 4th, 2025 at 10:55 am
I watched every game Trask started for the Gators. He played a lot better than the dude he replaces, Flippy Franks.
He also was clearly, obviously not an NFL QB. In the Georgia game, with a lead in the second half, Trask clanged three balls off different linebackers chests, any of them would have been a pick 6 if the LBs didn’t have TRex hands.
Might be smart, a future coach. He sucks as a QB in the NFL.
June 4th, 2025 at 11:54 am
Agree Teacherman – what an absolutely horrid draft. Embarrassingly bad. However, he’s more than made up for it. He’s built up some good equity and not sure that I’d trade him for any other GM
June 4th, 2025 at 1:13 pm
Gotta concur on the Trask thing. God forbid something happens to Bake we have nothing but fingers to be crossed if Trask is the guy to take a loaded team anywhere. We really should have a legit NFL games played Backup QB on this team. Go Bucs!!
June 4th, 2025 at 1:35 pm
Aqual . in 2020 Trask threw over 4,000 yards and 41 TDs with 8 picks . He was a Heisman trophy candidate and also lead the NCAA in every quarterback stat and was also better than Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence that year. And then came in training camp in 2023 out played Baker Mayfield . Lol 🤣🤣 We will see what Baker does in the playoffs because our division is trash. If chokes again y’all will blame everyone else but him . Lol 🤣🤣 But at that same time I don’t want to hear about Dak not getting it done.
June 4th, 2025 at 3:11 pm
I appreciate the follow-up, well done!
Disappointing to hear Trask is still throwing powder puff passes since last preseason he actually looked pretty solid in that he was throwing with NFL velocity. I know his natural tendency is to throw the soft stuff, but I had hoped the Bucs had finally coached that out of him. Hopefully it’s just a flag football thing and he’ll be throwing at full speed once training camp begins.
June 4th, 2025 at 3:19 pm
Brandon Says:
Darden… Licht missed. Not being able to get an accurate time on him hurt. He was way too small to not be all that fast…. I get Darden vibes with Tez Johnson, but that’s okay for a 7th round pick.
————-
But Tez is incredibly quick AND fast. Pointed this out a bunch of times, but take his 40-time and throw it again, his in game speed was something like 22.3mph which would have been like the 5th fastest player in the NFL last year, something like that. Also if you watch Tez’s tape, he’s running away from guys who got drafted. His 40 time is not remotely related to his actual speed – not to mention his quickness is elite+.
Darden, meanwhile, who is still playing in the NFL by the way (barely, but he is out there still returning punts) – I never got that pick at all. His workout numbers and 40 time were fine, but when you watched the tape, he never looked special at any time, he just looked like a generic college wide receiver – that, like you pointed out, was undersized for the NFL.
Now, going back to Tez, he is way undersized, which is why he lasted until the 7th, but his chances of making it in the NFL I think are a lot higher than Darden, as Tez just looks so much better on tape, and even though he’s undersized, he’s not 5′ 6″ or something, he’s supposed to be a legit 5′ 10″, which is unusual for someone that light, and I think that height might be what gives him a chance to stick around. Not saying he’s going to start or being a star, but he’s a guy who should have an NFL career as a returner and gadget player, like a better version of Thompkins.
June 4th, 2025 at 3:31 pm
I wonder about 2nd string QBs that have never been starters. They might get complacent. The Bucs should bring in an aged Vet or new blood. Time to move on from Trask. He has no sense of urgency.
June 4th, 2025 at 3:35 pm
I am with the dudes that suggest that 2021 draft by the Bucs was not good.
Not enough good talent for our team in that draft.
That being said, I am happy with the 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 drafts.
I would say that 4 out of 5 of the last drafts before this year turned into hits.
June 4th, 2025 at 3:40 pm
Top 10 Gators drafted by Tampa.
10. Vernon Hargreaves, DB
9. Ahmad Black, S
8. Jimmy DuBose, RB
7. Jason Odom, OT
6. Kyle Trask, QB
5. Jacquez Green, WR
4. Reidel Anthony, WR
3. Kenyatta Walker, OT
2. Errict Rhett, RB
1. Scott Brantley, LB
That’s a pretty ugly list for 50 years. Maybe just avoid Gators.
June 4th, 2025 at 3:48 pm
One of the biggest knocks against Kyle Trask coming out was that his success was due to Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney.
Well in hindsight those guys were not that special.
June 4th, 2025 at 4:07 pm
@geno… both those guys were very special. They aren’t great in the nfl, because one is crazy and doesn’t like to work and the other is very soft, but both are freak atheletes that the defense has to plan for. Trask is not athletic enough and cant process fast enough.
June 4th, 2025 at 5:07 pm
Thanks for the discourse Miken.
If you read my first post, I suggested that 2021 draft was bad. That includes Trask. Now mostly, we have not seen Trask — so he is probably fairly more of an incomplete than anything else.
However, my point I think is fair regarding the abilities of Pitts and Toney. Toney whether crazy or not, looked like a late 2nd or 3rd round talent. Never was a stud.
Pitts whether the reason he has not excelled is because he is soft does not matter. They have tried to design part of their offense around him and he is not close to elite. Soft implies that he might have chicken arms or something.
He is just not even an elite receiving TE. The Bucs don’t worry about Pitts in Atlanta. Neither do any other teams.
Nobody ever stayed up any nights in the NFL game planning against Pitts or Toney. Much more likely they will this year against Bucky Irving — another non elite athlete like Trask.
So, it goes back to that specific criticism of why Trask would not make it was because he had elite players — well no — that was always a bad argument.
I will agree that Trask is not athletic mobile enough. However, you can be a competent NFL quarterback if you process fast enough. That part of the equation is still the incomplete. But if you are saying that Trask is not athletic enough to make NFL throws – I disagree.
Kyle Trask has processed well enough to be a late 2nd round draft pick and processed enough to be the 1st quarterback ever drafted by the Bucs to get a 2nd contract from the Bucs.
Sorry for being wordy. Wanted to make a point without just throwing out a catchy sound bite.
June 4th, 2025 at 5:46 pm
Oh.
I love Licht I’m a huge fan.
I wouldn’t trade him for any other GM in the NFL.
I’m just saying.
Trask was a terrible pick.
But I’m still a huge Licht supporter.
June 5th, 2025 at 12:15 am
College performance is at best a 50% predictor of pro success – in the first round. Trask had college success because Pitts Toney Van Jefferson and his RBs were all stellar athletes way better than the college competition. He usually was throwing to a guy so wide open even his noodle arm could get the pass there. I know his stats – I watched the games. I also knew that when the windows tighten, so did Trask’s sphincter.
In the NFL, he’s already reached his pinnacle.
June 5th, 2025 at 12:38 am
geno711 Says:
That’s a pretty ugly list for 50 years. Maybe just avoid Gators.
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The worst part is that everyone (at least around here) had the Bucs taking Emmitt Smith in 1990 – only for the Bucs to trade for Gary Anderson on the eve of the draft, and then take Keith McCants (between the picks of HOFer Cortez Kennedy and HOFer Junior Seau).
The one time the Bucs SHOULD have drafted a Gator, they passed.
But I’m completely with you, all Gators are off my draft board every draft year. No idea why the insanely high bust rate with them and the Bucs, but the history is too long to ignore.